1. Field
Embodiments of the invention relate to sample probing. In particular, embodiments of the invention relate to a system and a method for nanoprobing using a scanning probe and a touching probe.
2. Related Art
Nanoprobing is a very broad field of analytical science covering various types of electrical, mechanical, compositional and chemical physical characterization of nano-objects. Examples of nano-objects include nano-electronic devices and their components. Nanoprobing includes, but is not limited to, scanning and touching probing. Electrical probing of a single transistor, memory bitcell and logic elements of integrated circuits (“IC”) is used widely to test performance of newly designed ICs and to correct potential problems of the specific IC design or/and overall technology.
Nanoprobing a nano-object located on a sample requires referencing a probe with respect to the sample surface to locate the nano-object at interest. This process is time consuming to ensure the probe is at the proper location on the sample, which adds to the amount of time necessary to probe a nano-object on a sample. Further, sample registration with respect to an existing computer-aided map is challenging because of the small field of view of SEM and other nanoprobing tools. Because of the small field of view more time may be necessary to find features of interest on a sample.
In some cases, it is necessary to move a sample back and forth between sample preparation and nanoprobing tools, such an example is failure analysis of multilayer IC samples. Each time the sample is moved to a new tool requires time to align the sample and locate the feature of interest on the sample. Improper alignment between the tools can result in damage to the sample. Current tools and systems for characterizing a sample do not provide for a fast way to align and navigate to features of interest on a sample.